Guardian Cryptic 27278 Brummie

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I was a bit slow getting into it, but it turned out alright. Thanks to Brummie. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

8 Red, filthy dung-filled town (8)

BURGUNDY : Anagram of(filthy) DUNG contained in(-filled) BURY(town in Greater Manchester, England).

9 Hard 7 for Murdoch’s kind of whiskey? (5)

IRISH : H(abbrev. for “hard”) placed after(answer to 7;chaser for) + IRIS(Murdoch, author).

10 Feeble, not too clever, getting upset over Latin (4)

MILD : Reversal of(…, getting upset) DIM(not too clever) containing(over) L(abbrev. for “Latin”).

11 Ridiculously easy, almost English language (10)

SINGHALESE : Anagram of(Ridiculously) [ “easy” minus its last letter(, almost) + ENGLISH ].

Answer: … or Sinhalese, Indic language whose speakers are mainly in Sri Lanka.

12 Author‘s grand parties (6)

GRAVES : G(abbrev. for “grand”) + RAVES(lively parties involving dancing and drinking).

Answer: …, presumably Robert, author of I, Claudius.

14 Creep! Groveller! Grub! (8)

INCHWORM : INCH(to creep;to move bit by bit) + WORM(a groveller, one who crawls in fear or humility, literally like a worm).

15 Preacher with a stake in drink (7)

APOSTLE : POST(a stake in the ground) contained in(in) ALE(alcoholic drink).

17 Raise the heat level — oxygen, quick! (7)

UPTEMPO : UP(to raise;to increase) TEMP(short for “temperature”;the heat level) + O(chemical symbol for the element, oxygen).

20 Hang on, it’s a thorny plant (4-1-3)

WAIT-A-BIT : Double defn.

22 Purchase about 50 books first, like Barbara Windsor? (6)

BUBBLY : BUY(to purchase) containing(about) [ L(Roman numeral for 50) placed after(… first) BB(twice abbrev. for “book”) ].

Defn: …, especially in the Carry On films.

23 Make granny form a union? (3,3,4)

TIE THE KNOT : Double defn: 1st: Reference to a granny knot; and 2nd: Reference to the marriage union.

24 Devon resort‘s improved with non-drinking element gone (4)

BEER : “better”(improved) minus(… element gone) “tt”(abbrev. for “teetotal”;non-drinking).

25 Be conspicuous, excluding and thick (5)

STOUT : “stand out”(to be conspicuous) minus(excluding) “and“.

26 Greener, VAT-exempt, houses weakened (8)

ENERVATE : Hidden in(…, houses) “Greener, VAT-exempt“.

Defn: …, lacking energy or vitality.

Down

1 Bandage one has to clench after bath (8)

TUBIGRIP : [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) plus(has) GRIP(to clench;to grasp) ] placed after(after) TUB(bath;bathtub).

2 Oath finally made, go in search of pleasure (4)

EGAD : Last letter of(finally) “made” + GAD(to go in search of pleasure;to gallivant).

3 Am I backing second rallying cry for union with Greece? (6)

ENOSIS : Reversal of(… backing) [ IS(third person singular present tense of “be”, whose first person equivalent is “am”) + ONE(whose Roman numeral is “I” ] + S(abbrev. for “second” in time notation).

Defn: … among certain Cypriots and Greeks.

4 Like sleep of wild pony in concealed surroundings (7)

HYPNOID : Anagram of(wild) PONY contained in(in … surroundings) HID(concealed).

5 Capital cover for retirement? (8)

NIGHTCAP : Cryptic defn: Cover for one’s capital;head for sleeping;retirement in bed.

6 Choice that hurt woman’s black plant (10)

WILLOWHERB : WILL(choice;prerogative) + OW(an exclamation that “that hurt”) + HER(woman’s) + B(abbrev. for “black”).

7 Short prince, the queen’s alcoholic successor (6)

CHASER : CHAS(short for “Charles”, name of current prince, heir to the English throne) + ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, queen and mother of the above mentioned prince).

Defn: Not a drunken heir, but a strong alcoholic drink taken after a weaker one.

13 Violet hardly started, so Titian splashed around — quite an ordeal (10)

VISITATION : The 1st 2 letters of(… hardly started) “Violet” + anagram of(… splashed around) SO TITIAN.

Comical imagery of Titian desperately splashing paint about and hardly progressing with his portrayal of a flower or a lady.

16 Books in the same place, with litter strewn about (8)

LIBRETTI : IB(short for “ibid”, Latin for “in the same place”, used in text to indicate reference to the same source mentioned in a previous reference) contained in(with … about) anagram of(… strewn) LITTER.

Defn: … of the text of an opera or other long vocal work.

18 China encountered Old Testament upside-down semi-tropical tree (8)

PALMETTO : PAL(“China” in rhyming slang, from mate/China plate) + MET(encountered) + reversal of(… upside-down, in a down clue) OT(abbrev. for the Old Testament).

19 Runs from part-time correspondent, one who goads (7)

STINGER : “r”(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores) deleted from(from) “stringer”(a part-time newspaper correspondent who reports on events in a particular place).

21 In the thick of it, dam’s broken (6)

AMIDST : Anagram of(… broken) IT, DAM’S.

22 Acid removing bird’s tail (6)

BITTER : “bittern”(a large marshbird) minus(removing) its last letter(…’s tail).

24 Ladies‘ drink? (4)

BEVY : Double defn: 1. …, in a group; and 2nd: Slang for a drink, usually alcoholic, from “beverage”; also “bevvy”.

46 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27278 Brummie”

  1. I was also quite slow getting into it. I failed to solve 24a, 26a, 24d, and I needed help to parse 3d and 5d.

    My favourite was INCHWORM.

    Thanks scchua and Brummie.

  4. Thanks Scchua and Brummie.
    I thought, an alcoholic chaser is usually soda, tonic water, lime cordial etc.
    Good puzzle, very different from the recent ones.

  6. re post 5… sorry; ignore my babblings, which I posted with my tosspot hat on rather than my interior designer hat on

  7. I liked the alcoholic drinks theme, though I had to google after I solved 24a to confirm that there really is a seaside town called BEER in Devon. I vaguely recall a cocktail called a STINGER 19d.

    Due to my work as a Celebrant, my favourite non-themed clue was 23a TIE THE KNOT – and I have actually married some grannies!

    Thanks to Brummie and scchua.

  8. PS Can anyone explain why a VISITATION 13d is an ordeal? Am I just being thick?

    PPS I got twelve drinks references if I include “ALE” in 15a. Did I miss any?

  9. Julie @8. Chambers has a couple of definitions of visitation which qualify as ordeals. My grammar school’s annual prize giving ceremony was called Visitation Day, under the patronage of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. Ordeal didn’t begin to describe it.

  10. Thanks Brummie and scchua

    I usually enjoy Brummie’s puzzles, but not this one, partly because,taking the clues in order, my FOI was HYPNOID. Positives first – I liked INCHWORM and (LOI) APOSTLE. I hadn’t heard of either plant, but they were both gettable; PALMETTO in particular was an example of a satisfying clue where the parts build up to give an unfamiliar but correct answer.

    I didn’t like feeble = MILD. UP-TEMPO is at least hyphenated. I suppose ENERVATE is the adjective rather than the verb; if not, it should be ENERVATED for “weakened”. NIGHTCAP is weak, as CAPITAL is in the clue. IB for “in the same place” is odd (although admittedly in Chambers) as IBID. is already an abbreviation (of ibidem). BITTER isn’t the same as “acid”.

  11. This was a strange one – the top half was blank for a while, but the easy SW corner gave me a toehold and the rest fell surprisingly quickly. A few unfamiliar/only known from previous crosswords solutions (ENOSIS, HYPNOID, PALMETTO) but all of these were clued so fairly that they barely held me up. Oh and WAIT-A-BIT the plant was unfamiliar too but had to be right once all the crossers were in place. UPTEMPO was last in after PALMETTO.

    Thanks to Brummie and scchua

  12. baerchen@5 etc-I remember the red and white well-just a memory-who can afford it now?

    Nice(hic)puzzle.No gripes from this bar stool.

  13. For once I saw the theme early on and it did help. I thought there were going to be two sub-themes – one related to beer and one to wine but there weren’t enough wines to constitute a theme and IRISH fits in neither. ENOSIS was my new word for today and LOI was ENERVATE which even with the obvious indicator remained hidden in plain sight and was only spotted after the answer was deduced from the crossers.
    Thanks Brummie and scchua.

  14. [copmus
    yes I have to make do with the Grauburgunder Spätlese from the Oberbergener Winzergenossenschaft now. €7.49 a bottle. Good for limiting consumption; impossible to order a second bottle on pronunciation grounds.]

  15. This was the first Brummie puzzle I’ve managed to solve without recourse to on-line or hard-copy help. I got 9ac, but didn’t parse it properly. I hesitated over 26a, since ENERVATE is more familiar as a verb than as an adjective.
    Re 7dn, in my experience a chaser is a stronger follow-up for the English, but a weaker mixer for West Indians. Being English, to begin with I was puzzled when my Caribbean friends talked of buying bitter lemon or soda water as chasers.

  16. Thanks Brummie and scchua.

    Uptempo as a single word is in Oxford dictionaries, although Chambers has it hyphenated. Collins has ENERVATE = weakened as an adjective. Chambers Thes. has MILD = feeble as in ‘a mild form of the disease.’

    Merry puzzle that was quite entertaining. Like beeryhiker @11, I had trouble with ENOSIS, HYPNOID, PALMETTO and WAIT-A-BIT, although I got them in the end.

  17. Julie in Australia, I got 12 too, but only after I came here and discovered from the comments that there was a theme. Tough going but I’m liking it more and more in retrospect now that the wounds are healing.

  18. To Julie and Xjpotter, I can see 12 drinks without ALE. Did you miss MILD perhaps? I think the other 11 are better known, at least outside the UK.

  19. HKrunner: not sure which I missed but I get 13 now. Could have been my lack of counting skills. But thanks.

  21. Thanks to Brummie and scchua. Lots of terms here new to me (e.g., WAIT-BIT as plant, BEER as town, TUBIGRIP, HYPNOID, WILLOWHERB) but the cluing was usually sufficient and I did know ENOSIS (though not Barbara Windsor as BUBBLY).

  23. ENOSIS was my (tentative) FOI, though I still don’t understand the explanation. I lost interest half way through and had to resort to the on-line version for hints.

    Thanks scchua and Brummie

  24. I think I have just got it: IS ONE is a royal version of AM I? And I = ONE, a reversal of the usual ONE = I.

  28. Fell at the last fence. I had TUBAGRIP rather than TUBIGRIP so I couldn’t get MILD. A pity because I got the theme for once. I found this hard going. On first pass, I only had ENOSIS and then gradually it started to yield but it was slow going. I’ve never heard of WAIT A BIT as a plant – and didn’t look it up. Not heard of PALMETTO but that was easy to get.
    Had it’s moments but this wasn’t a puzzle I enjoyed very much.
    Thanks Brummie.

  29. Thanks both,
    This looked like hard going at first pass but it gave steadily. Tubigrip was new to me but enosis I recalled from the Cyprus emergency in my youth. I failed to parse Singhalese.

  31. Thanks to Brummie and Scchua – I found this very enjoyable – my FOI was BEER which is not surprising as I was already drinking it 🙂 More surprising is that I didn’t see a theme! LOI was UPTEMPO (I was trying to reverse something like Gas Mark 5) – like BeeryHiker my toehold was the SW and I grew out from there – (do setters plan these things – easier clues in some places – I suspect they do) – I enjoyed SINGHALESE (was erroneously convinced “sinch” = “very easy” must be in it), BURGUNDY and PALMETTO (a memory from playing the A Tale in the Desert)…

  35. Could somebody please explain the cryptic grammar in 3D for deriving IS from AM? Or are we expected to make some leap which is not indicated in the clue?

  36. BNTO, it’s ‘Am I?’ being substituted by ‘Is one?’.
    That’s all right if you accept ‘I’ = ‘one’.
    This clue was the only one we didn’t get, having never heard of this particular Cypriot issue.
    Not so very long ago someone said that the use of ‘back’ (in all its variations) wasn’t brilliant for a Down clue.
    I tend to agree.

  37. Thanks Sil.

    I do see what one is supposed to do but I don’t see any indication of this in the clue. Why the change of 1st person to 3rd person? (Or should we in future consider every form of a verb whenever we see it in a clue? )

    I must be being thick as nobody else seems to have a problem with this. However to me the derivation of IS seems totally arbitrary unless of course one knows the solution!!!!

  39. I agree with Tony Sever @ 38. Not too hard, several smiles and not much to complain about.
    We’ve enjoyed many short breaks in 24@. We always like tea or coffee at Ducky’s cafe on the beach and a visit to the nearby Donkey Sanctuary. Grandson loved the model railways at Pecorama. Great for walkers though too steep for us.32

  41. So people have “nothing to complain about” but apparently nobody can really explain the 3D cryptic grammar?!! I can’t understand this opinion?

    To me it seems just plain wrong unless someone can explain it to me.

    So this make the puzzle flawed. *One bad apple….” etc

  42. BNTO: Chambers (10th edition) has for “one”: “pronoun – somebody; anybody; I, me (formal)”.

    The royal family (particularly Princess Anne) is popularly associated with this usage, ie “one is” for “I am”.

    Speaking of the royals, Mindy @27, do you know something we don’t?

  44. Thanks JimS

    Oh people are thinking that is an equivalence!

    Sorry but I don’t see “I am” as equivalent to “one is”. Not by a long chalk. Not without indication anyway and certainly not without a question mark in there.

    See SOED

    …

    12 Any person of undefined identity, as representing people in general; I, him, her, as an example; a person, anyone. Also (in affected use) I or me as an individual. ME.

    …

  45. BNTO@41
    If BNTO’s comment referred to mine @ 39 I said ” not much” not “nothing” to complain about but in fact 3D wasn’t one of my few complaints (covered by others). It’s not an expression that I would use myself but “one is” as a synonym for “I am” I can accept and I wouldn’t necessarily expect any help.

  46. I definitely prefer the royal “one is” explanation, and I am also of the opinion that “enervated” and not “enervate” means weakened, but other than that I enjoyed this puzzle. However I’m astonished that no-one else got “visitathon” as a rather amusing alternative answer to 13 down – i.e. anagram of so titian and the starts of “violet” and “hardly”. I do feel a visitathon would be far better qualified as “quite an ordeal” than “visitation”! Any expats who have returned for a “holiday” to see friends and family will know what I mean!

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